New Jersey Resources Co. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.45 (NYSE:NJR)

New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of 0.45 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th.

New Jersey Resources has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.8% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 29 years. New Jersey Resources has a payout ratio of 57.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect New Jersey Resources to earn $3.12 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 57.7%.

New Jersey Resources Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of New Jersey Resources stock opened at $46.74 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $47.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.68. New Jersey Resources has a 1 year low of $39.44 and a 1 year high of $51.94. The firm has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a PE ratio of 16.01 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.89. New Jersey Resources had a return on equity of 13.54% and a net margin of 16.13%. The company had revenue of $395.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $406.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that New Jersey Resources will post 3.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Patrick J. Migliaccio sold 4,983 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total transaction of $229,218.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,707,704. This represents a 11.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NJR. StockNews.com cut New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Guggenheim upped their price target on New Jersey Resources from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded New Jersey Resources from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $52.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

New Jersey Resources Company Profile

New Jersey Resources Corporation, an energy services holding company, distributes natural gas. The company operates through four segments: Natural Gas Distribution, Clean Energy Ventures, Energy Services, and Storage and Transportation. The Natural Gas Distribution segment offers regulated natural gas utility services to approximately 576,000 customers in Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, and Sussex counties in New Jersey; provides capacity and storage management services; and participates in the off-system sales and capacity release markets.